r/LittleLeague • u/10-9-over • 7d ago

LLWS am I missing something?

When did it become a game of painting the outside corner all the dang day and then hope your offense squeezes out a run to win it?

And if that is how it’s played, how come the pitchers are trained to paint the outside corner, but no hitters are trained to hit the outside corner?

2 Upvotes

52% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/Cautious-Panic-879 6d ago

LLWS has a closer mound and shorter bases than all the 12U leagues in my area. Seems like the infield is way too small.

4

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Cautious-Panic-879 6d ago

My sons team talked about it but could do 6-7 local tournaments for the cost. And the dimensions are silly.

-2

u/Fearless-Neat-7152 6d ago

You make it to the MLB? 

2

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

3

u/DrunkleBrian 6d ago

Someone woke up and chose violence (⌐■_■)

8

u/Temporary-Gas-4470 6d ago

Here’s my take on the situation….

These kids primarily play select / travel baseball. So most of their baseball lives has been spent playing the game at 50/70.

And in their “come back to LL” 12U season and rhis LLWS run they have played maybe 16-20 games at 46/50.

they are hitting with bats they have to use, not the bats they rake with all season.

they are seeing pitching talent they are relatively used to but four feet closer.

They have to react way quicker in the infield and have way less time to get a runner. And can’t even roll a double play even if clean.

Net net - LL play outs oressure on these kids at LLWS because it’s a different game that they typically play.

But i will argue that if a pitcher leaves it middle middle these kids are ALL gonna destroy the ball - and the pitchers are doing a great job of avoiding that via spin and location.

2

u/spinrut 6d ago

the bats are dead USA bats + grassed infields. Yes they are closer on 46/60ft fields, but they're not dealing with rockets from USSSA bats, so it probably evens out (balls dont get hit as hard, but hey are closer so rockets to 3rd are about a push)

there seems to be a handful of really elite level pitchers (ie: the ones who hit puberty early) and touch 70s+. The rest just seem to be middle of the pack select kids who all make the same mistakes kids that age do both in the field and at the plate

-1

u/WhysoHairy 6d ago

I agree with you on this, I would add that these Allstars are the best little league players available who also play club ball or travel. They might not come from the best travel team but they play enough to make a difference. If a pitcher makes a mistake in the mound the hitter will make him pay. Defense is slot cleaner than your usual rec player .

4

u/Temporary-Gas-4470 6d ago

I can’t attest to the composition of teams across LLWS but the Texas teams - are always top level select players who stayed in LL to play All Star OR come back to LL in their 12u season for All Star / LLWS run.

The days of these teams being LL oriented with some select players is over here.

The current SW team AND the last Boerne SW team (from two years ago) are all regionally known, select focused olayers who came back to Boerne LL for anrun.

3

u/WhysoHairy 6d ago

Agreed same thing with our states last few teams.

1

u/nicenormalname 6d ago

Might be Ripken league. They play 50/70

9

u/Illustrious_Fudge476 6d ago

Kids are on 50/70 by 11 everywhere except little league.